BZ20Q (P1125507W) Amana Refrigerator - Instructions

inserted a knife between the switch and the plastic interior in order to pop the switch out.
then took off the 2 wires on the old switch put them on the new switch and reinserted the switch into the plastic interior.

The refrig seemed warm so I checked the temp of some liquid with a thermometer. Readings were above 60 degrees and I knew food would spoil soon. I vacuumed the dog fur off the cooling coils underneath the machine to see if that would help. Nope. I realized cold air from the freezer was not reaching the refrig. The fan was working but no cold air was coming out. I figured a blockage either in the air duct from the refrig or in the return duct to the freezer. I didn’t see any blockage in the refrig section. I took everything out of the freezer and removed the back wall. The cooling coils were completely frozen solid with frost. Being a frost free machine, I knew there were heaters that were controlled by a timer that melted this frost away periodically and that this cycle was no longer working. I found a schematic on the web, maybe your site, and educated myself on the heater circuit. The circuit consisted of a timer, thermostat near the coils, and a cal rod heater all wired in series. The timer was easy to get to and being a mechanical device I figured it must be the culprit. I ordered one online. I checked its operation and it worked fine. Realizing time was short, I hot wired the cal rod around the thermostat and rotated the timer to its heat position. The frost melted quickly and I put the freezer back together and ordered a thermostat. I canceled the timer order. When it arrived, I installed the new thermostat and it has worked fine for the past month. A little colder than usual as I don’t yet have the settings back to where they were. I have checked the operation of the old thermostat. It’s supposed to close at 30 degrees and open at 45. I have done a continuity check on it by putting it in the freezer, letting it cool down, take it out, let it warm up and it seems to work fine. So I have doubts if I really solved the problem. Wire connections were tight and not corroded. Maybe the timer was hung up on debris that I freed by cycling it. I don’t think this is the end of the story.

After unplugging the appliance I needed to thaw a large ice buildup off the evaporator cover panel before I could even remove the panel. The freezer being on the lower part of the appliance has the evaporator mounted vertically and it was 100% encapsulated in rock hard ice. It took over an hour to thaw the ice and collect all the water with a shop vacuum, since the condensate pan began to overflow.
One thawed, I checked all wiring for good connection, checked heater, defrost thermostat, timer unit with multimeter. The defrost thermostat checked out fine after putting it into another freezer for a 15 minute cooldown, but I noticed a crack in the seal and suspected internal moisture and decided to replace that part. A simple plug in of two leads to the new part after clipping it to the evaporator, replacement of the panel, and the appliance was up and running problem free.
A workbench disection of the old part confirmed my assessment, it had internal rust and water and had failed causing the defrost cycle failure.

The light rocker switch wasnt working. I found the part on the web site. It was so easy. I used a screw driver to pop out the old one and pop the new one in. It took 5 min. Thanks!!!

Very simple fix, remove 3 screws, two connectors to the old switch

I removed the switch housing (4 screws), replacing the switch in the housing was a snap. It took 5 minutes, cost $8 and light works like new!

Why didn't I order this part and do the repair earlier? Very simple.

i never bothered to fix the handle untill after repeated "honey do's" to fix it from my honey. didnt realise that after 15 years that i could get a part for it. thanks parts select. two screws and i was done.

use kitchen knife to pry out. replaced switch assemble and pressed back into place. Could not have done this with out help from previous customers. Thanks

1- Remove food from freezer and store in ice chest
2- Turn off refrigerator
3- Remove freezer drawers, 2 drawers, no fastener
4- Remove freezer slide out drawer front , 2 screws
5- Remove ice cube tray holder, 2 screws
6- De-ice back panel with hair dryer / blower
7- Remove back panel in freezer, 8 screws
8- Defrost refrig coil with hair dryer / blower
9- Unplug Bimetal Thermostat, 2 wires, orang / brn
10- Remove Bimetal Thermostat from coil, 1 clip
11- Install new Bimetal Thermostat
12- Re-assemble, reverse order

I removed the back cover in the freezer section by removing six screws. The entire coil, the thermostat and the lines were all iced over. I used a hairdryer to defrost everything. I removed the thermostat by uncoupling the connectors and unclipping it from the coil tubing. I found the thermostat was bulging and deformed. I jumped out the thermostat using an insulated clip lead. I taped it so it would not short to anything. I plugged the unit in, turned the unit to "1" and advanced the defrost timer to defrost. I could hear the water hissing on the coil. I ordered the thermostat. It arrived in 3 days. The new one had a different terminal. I cut off the matching one from the old part and used a scotch-lok to make the connection to the new part. I slapped it in, dressed the wires and replaced the cover. I noticed that when I advanced the timer after replacing the thermostat, it did not immediately come on. The thermostat has an operating temperature window. I checked it several days later and found no frost. Everything works great.

Once I removed the contents of the freezer I found ice on the inside back panel Removing the panel I found ice on the cooling coils and the defrost thermostat was bulged out where the wires were attached.I removed the panel with the nutdriver as shown in the video. I removed the ice maker connection and removed the panel from the freezer section. I then had to manually defrost the area with a heat gun. The ice had actually covered the Defrost Thermostat - which was bulging where the wires were attached.. The defrosting took the majority of the repair time - the actual Defrost Thermostat replacement only took about 20 minutes once I could get to it. I spliced the wire with a crimping tool as discussed in the video. Once all was defrosted I reversed the operation.Overall, a very simple part change out. The video was extremely helpful - if nothing else to mentally prepare me for the task.

Pried out old part with screwdriver. Unplugged. When new part came, just plugged it in and pushed the part into place.

I just popped out the old switch with a flat head screwdriver. Removed the connections and then installed new switch by reversing steps. Popped in back in and the light went on.

First of all let me say I can't believe I fixed it! And I can thank this website for it, they also had my part at my front door in less than 24 hours. I am so amazed! I am a stay at home Mom, and because my husband is always off with the military I knew the job was up to me to fix. And because times are tough we certainly couldn't afford a repairman. After reading many stories here about the same problem I had, I diagnosed what was wrong with my refrigerator. The defrost thermostat was faulty. First thing to do was turn off the refrig and then unplug it. I then emptied the bottom freezer, used a screwdriver to remove back panel wall. Lo and behold the coils were covered with ice. I defrosted the freezer using a blow dryer, also had to empty the drip pan in the back. when it got full of water. ANd because there is no way to remove the drip pan, I actually got a small air hose from my son's old fish tank(clean one) and then siphoned the water into a pot, took all of 10 minutes! I then used needle nose pliers to remove the bad defrost thermostat from the refrig's wiring.The defrost thermostat which had a bulge in it so knew I was on the right path. I looked at the new defrost thermostat and they had different ends on it then the one I just removed, and I remember reading what another member did, and that was to cut off the connecting caps, strip the wires , use electrical tape to join them and use a crimping tool to place the old caps on to the new defrost thermostat .I then inserted the thermostat to the freezer's wiring. Hope that makes sense to everyone. WEll, everything is running great! Thank-You Part Select, you saved me lots of money!

remove ice maker vent and back piece. Unclip defrost thermostat and unplug. Plug new thermostat in and clip to element, reattach back piece, vent and ice maker. Is a tight fit getting icemaker out, there are 3 screws 2 on top and one on bottom.